What Has Robert Mueller Accomplished In His First Year? The Special Counsel's Been Busy

Thursday, May 17 will mark a year since Robert S. Mueller III was appointed to lead the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. And the special counsel has been busy in the last 12 months, to say the least. Looking back at it, here's what Mueller accomplished in his first year of the investigation.

The investigation by the bureau into whether members of the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian nationals to sway the 2016 election began in July of that year. On January 13 and 25, 2017, two Senate and House committees, respectively, launched investigations of their own. These committees were joined in their efforts by two other Congressional committees, which opened their investigations the following month.

But it wasn't until later that spring the Mueller stepped on scene, and it's been a whirlwind since. As the investigation begins its second year, the investigation has yet to directly reach President Donald Trump, but it has already ensnared a head-spinning number of people with connections to him and his inner circle.

"They're not messing around," Christopher Ruddy, a friend of Trump's and chief executive of Newsmax, told The Washington Post of the investigators. "They're going very quickly. The number of indictments, pleas and other moves is just amazing. I think it will come to a head quicker than other investigations."

The president seems eager to put to bed what's become more than just a small thorn in his side. (To date, Trump has called the Mueller investigation a "witch hunt" on Twitter 42 times since taking office.) As of now, the special counsel has indicted 19 individuals and three business entities in its probe, and there's no sense that the investigation is anywhere near finished.

[A]ny links and or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.

As the investigation proceeded, in a July interview with The New York Times, Trump said it would be crossing a line if Mueller were to probe into his or his family's finances or personal business dealings. (At the time, he didn't say whether he'd fire Mueller if that came to pass.)

October 2017

On Oct. 30, Mueller indicted former Trump campaign staffer Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates in a 31-page filing. The two men were charged on 12 counts, including violations of foreign agent laws, money laundering, and more.

At the same time, unsealed documents from Oct. 5 revealed Mueller had bagged another campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, with a guilty plea.

May 2018

As the one-year mark approaches, the president still has yet to speak to the special counsel. Though Trump has long proffered his willingness to sit for an interview with Mueller, his legal team told The Associated Press on Friday that he wouldn't make a decision on whether to do so until after talks with North Korea.

Previously, Trump had expressed wanting to commit to an interview by the one-year mark on Thursday, though that deadline now appears to be moot, according to AP.

Trump and those in his inner circle are also under scrutiny by the bureau for a second investigation. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has been leading an investigation into Michael Cohen, the president's attorney, who admitted to paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to prevent her from speaking publicly about an alleged fair with Trump from 2006. (Trump has publicly denied allegations of an affair with Daniels.) Cohen said he paid Daniels $130,000 out of pocket to seal their non-disclosure deal, and thus the payments would not constitute a campaign finance law violations.

The FBI raidedCohen's office and residence in early April, seeking evidence regarding the pre-election expenditures. The referral to carry out the raid came from Mueller and was approved by Rosenstein. While Mueller isn't directly involved in this investigation, the Times reports, if the material the raid yielded contains any information that pertains to Mueller's Russian investigation, it's fair game for the special counsel. Cohen, who played a key role in Trump's campaign and has connections of his own with Russia, is also within Mueller's scope of investigation regardless.

But in an interview on May 3, Rudy Giuliani, the latest addition to Trump's legal team, contradicted the claims of his own defense's case regarding the payment. Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, Giuliani said that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payoff, going against a previous defense by Trump that he wasn't aware of it.

A Washington Post report Monday, revealed that the president is getting pretty antsy about both investigations that encircle him and his associates. According to the Post, aides say Trump talks about the FBI's raid of Cohen "about 20 times a day," and has mentioned the need for "better TV lawyers" to defend him and his reputation on-air. And if the second year is anything like the first, his worry is understandable.